Reflections on my neighbors glory and a Haitian Christmas.

I'm rereading the Weight of Glory by C. S. Lewis and I always get stuck in the last paragraph of the first essay and really can't go on reading for a couple of days. C. S. Lewis speaks of the burden, or the weight of our neighbors glory. The potential Glory and infinity inside every human. That we are in a society of potential gods and goddesses, or potential horrors and nightmarish ghosts. There are no ordinary people.

How different my life would look if I really believed that! How differently would I treat my history assignments, or my younger brother.

It also brings to my attention the concept of a neighbor. Especially in this day and age, where we have access to so much information about people who suffer all around the world. At what point does someone live too far away for us to have a moral obligation to come to their aid? I'm not saying politically, we've already proven we don't do that very well even with the best of intentions. I mean personally. At what point does the sparrow fall too far away? My mom says she believes that to some degree, we who are privileged will be held responsible for the suffering of others when we get to heaven. Burdened for humanity.

That being said, my family is going Haitian this Christmas, which means that we're giving each other things that we already own, things that are important to us. Christmas will be spectacular.